Why Build an Emergency Kit?

Self sufficiency and being prepared for emergencies go hand in hand. Since emergency situations can easily result in days of inconvenience or may result in you having to leave your home, it should be part of your overall strategy to build an emergency kit. This is important whether you live in an isolated area, which I do, or you live in suburbia. It is  important to prepare for every contingency and that is why I keep an emergency kit on hand.

When emergencies occur,  you may have to do without electricity, water, telephone, and easy access to a grocery store. Local resources will become strained very quickly. Consequently, one of the best things you can do to assist first responders, as well as your community, is to have the ability to be self sufficient.  It is important to understand that when these types of situations arise, resources may not be able to reach you for a variety of reasons. Therefore, you need to have certain things on...

An important first step in preparing for the unexpected is simply establishing an emergency food supply. From the perspective of being self sufficient, having extra supplies is fundamental.

I grew up with two working farms in the family and we always had a large walk-in closet that was well stocked with home canned goods, extra dry goods, and other basic supplies. This was a normal part of being self sufficient. I would strongly recommend that you do the same thing. This is something that is very easy and inexpensive to accomplish and it is similar to having an insurance policy.

ADVANTAGES TO having AN EMERGENCY FOOD SUPPLY

There are several distinct advantages to establishing and emergency food supply. On a very practical level, if something were to happen and you either could not work or you were simply unemployed for a period of time, you would still be able feed yourself. If a major storm comes through your area and there is a significant interruption in the local...

What is Bugging Out?

I am the type of person that constantly searches for and reads articles concerning self-sufficiency, homesteading, green living, etc.  I often come across some interesting discussions that catch my interest. One of the things I repeatedly come across is the term bugging out. This term is usually related to some survival or disaster scenario.

Even though the subject of this blog is not really about survival and prepping, I thought is was appropriate to at least address this issue of bugging out.  In many ways it is actually related to self-sufficiency. Certainly if you decided that “bugging out” was necessary, it is in your best interest to know how to take care of yourself and your family.

The term “bugging out” comes from military jargon and may have originated as far back as the Korean War. Sometimes military personnel found themselves in a position that was no longer defensible or was likely to be overrun by enemy forces. In...